Sean Donnelly, founding director of National Stage School in Belfast, said it was great to give young performers in the city the chance to show off their talents.

Speaking to Belfast Live, he said: "This is the first musical we have done. The organisation is chaired by Dan Gordon and it's been in the planning for years but it's been running courses for 18 months.

"We had an official opening in the Waterfront in May. Oliver is running at The MAC on Friday and Saturday.

"There's a total of 45 young people taking part. I think we have a unique vision in performing arts and we want to inject more funds into performing arts, we are all about upscaling young people in the UK and Ireland."